Friday, November 14, 2008

2 Half-Squad Podcast Episode 12

The fellas at 2 Half-Squads have put together Episode 12 and they mention TPBF! Yay! But seriously, the episode has an awesome interview with Keith Dalton who is a part-timer with MMP.

It kind of goes together with the Chas Argent interview on the Point2Point podcast mentioned in the previous post I made to give a little bit of insight into the way MMP operates.

Like I said before I have had some thoughts brewing in my head about the seemingly frustrating and backwards decisions made by ASL's current torch-bearer. (Just for fun hang out at the ASL boards at Gamesquad.com and watch the sparks fly when this sore point comes up every once in a while.) I think that some of the difficulty newer players have with how MMP operates is the opaqueness of their production delays. As a modern-day consumer I think we're all used to businesses eagerly accepting our money but when faced with the reality of the wargaming hobby of out-of-print and/or out-of-stock items it boggles us. After hearing the Argent and Dalton interviews I'm much more forgiving of the difficulty in finding the SKs and Beyond Valor.

Back to the podcast, I really really like the idea of making November a "Newbie November" where we all try to introduce this ASL of ours to a new player. My job as a teacher and a coach for school teams really lets up in November so I'd been planning on getting my Eurogames/role-playing group along with my fellow work colleagues into some ASLSK scenarios with all my extra time. I've been chatting it up and sharing this blog with them so at least one or two are getting a bit of interest in doing so.

So the challenge is (for you half-dozen people who check out this blog and have the basics down) -- get ONE new person into the hobby this month. This might mean playing an SK scenario, finding SK#1 and giving it for Christmas, or whatever. Get one person into ASL! I'll reports my efforts in a later post.

Last thing, is there anything better than Jeff and Dave reading Woody Guthrie? LOL!

5 comments:

Never have I so easily met a challenge ... just last night I introduced a newbie to ASL by throwing him in the deep end of a PTO scenario. We played Totsugeki and it came down to the last turn in a scenario with all the trimmings -- DC heroes blowing themselves and Chinese guns sky-high, a banzai charge, and some save hand-to-hand all across the board. Next week we intend to downshift a bit and play an armor scenario from ASLSK#3. So I've done my newbie duty!

You do get a lot of carnage with the Japanese, too -- they don't break, they just die. My last leader was a wounded 8+1 leading a Banzai.

PTO can be intimidating because it comes at the end of the module sequence, but my new player didn't have much trouble with it. Infantry is infantry no matter where you are, and the PTO terrain on balance isn't harder to understand than ETO building heights or hills. Pick your scenario carefully and anyone can enjoy ASL PTO.

I've been trying to get my son involved in ASL. My competition is the Call of Duty and Brothers In Arms video games for the XBox 360. While he is clicking and shooting with great graphics, I'll ask why he took a certain action and the usual reply is to just win the game and blow things up (usally with my stereo turned way up). There doesn't seem to be much stategy or tactics involved in these video games. When I explained that there are so many options to attacking and defending in ASL, along with the consequences and luck, he began to think. This is something that might be used to entice new players to ASL, the thought process.

P.S. We started playing S2 but I think this is even a bit to complicated for a total newbie with all the SW's (MG's, DM's, FT's) being involved. I found S8 in an Operations magazize that only involves MG's and uses board y (not so many buildings). This scenario seems to be easier to grasp although it might be tough on the American player.

As an avid video and PC gamer I can't poo-poo the whole hobby. There's no question that the allure of shiny graphics and interactivity on the level of new video games makes attracting younger gamers to our hobby.

If anything I'd stress the storytelling aspects of ASL. Each scenario is a story which ends in a fashion you determine. It's less about winning sometimes and more about the fun you'll have talking about those desparate moments.

Have you tried S1? It's still my go-to choice for teaching a person new to ASL.

ASL Learning Tips#1. DON'T BE AFRAID OF MAKING MISTAKES!
#2. DON'T MEMORIZE THE RULES THE FIRST TIME THROUGH - PUSH CARDBOARD ASAP!
#3. TEACHING SOMEONE ASL CAN BE GOOD FOR LEARNING ASL!
#4. ALWAYS PLAY WITH A NOTEBOOK HANDY -- TAKE NOTES!
#5. PLAY ASL "COMPETITIVELY" IN A LEAGUE OR TOURNAMENT.
#6. REVIEW YOUR PLAY AND LOOK FOR WAYS TO IMPROVE.
#7. NEVER GIVE UP. PASS YOUR PERSONAL MORALE CHECK!